Timeline of Space Exploration

  • 1947: Sputnik

    Moscow launched the first artificial space satellite which was sputnik 1, sputnik 2 launched its first living being into orbit which was a dog that later died a few hours after.
  • 1961: Gagarin, first man

    Soviet cosmonaut Gagarin was the first man space, he completed a single 108 minute orbit
  • 1969: Made it to the moon

    Us astronaut Neil Armstrong is the first man to step onto the moon, Edwin aldrin joined him shortly 20 minutes after.
  • 1971: First space station

    Soviet Union launched the very first orbital space station called Salyut 1. It was brought back to earth in 2001 after 15 years into orbit.
  • 1976: Made it to Mars

    US spacecraft Viking 1 was the first to successfully land on mars and send back pictures of the red planet.
  • 1981: Space Shuttle

    US space shuttle, Columbia which is the first reusable manned space craft, made its first voyage. It then got destroyed in flight with the loss of 14 astronauts in 2003.
  • 1990: Hubble

    Hubble was the first space telescope which was placed into orbit 340 miles from earth, which allowed scientists to observe planets and galaxies and distant stars.
  • 2001: Space tourist

    Dennis Tito an Italian American multi-millionaire became the world first space tourist. He pad Russia $20 million to stay on the ISS for eight days.
  • 2008: SpaceX private

    Us company SpaceX was the first to do a private venture to successfully launch a rocket into earths orbit which was the Falcon 1.
  • 2014: Comet Landing

    A European space agency placed a small robot named Philae on a comet more than 500 million kilometers from earth. It was a part of a mission which was aiming to explore the origins of our Solar System